Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Tel Aviv Tribune Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, was killed by an Israeli missile strike in the western part of Khan Younis, Gaza.
Journalist Mustafa Thuraya was also killed in the attack, when the vehicle in which they were traveling near al-Mawasi, a supposedly safe area to the southwest, was hit by the missile. A third passenger, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.
According to Tel Aviv Tribune correspondents, Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was targeted as they attempted to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.
Hamza, 27, was a journalist like his father. Mustafa was also in his twenties.
Speaking from the cemetery where his son was buried, Wael seemed both calm and resigned, saying he was now one of many people in Gaza who say bitter goodbyes to their loved ones every day.
He vowed to stay on the path of showing the world what is happening in Gaza, despite the pain of one loss after another.
“Hamza was everything to me, the eldest boy, he was the soul of my soul…these are the tears of separation and loss, the tears of humanity,” he said.
The Tel Aviv Tribune media network strongly condemned the attack, adding: “The assassination of Mustafa and Hamza… while they were on their way to carry out their duty in the Gaza Strip, reaffirms the need to take immediate legal measures necessary against the occupying forces to ensure that there is no impunity.
Reacting to this news, the Gaza media office condemned the assassination of the two journalists, denouncing “this heinous crime in the strongest terms”.
Continuous pain
Hamza was extremely attached to his family and was devastated when he learned on October 25 that an Israeli raid had hit the house where his family was sheltering in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
He discovered shortly after that his mother Amna, his brother Mahmoud, 15, his sister Sham, 7, and his nephew Adam, 1, had been killed in the Israeli attack. His grief over their loss seemed to motivate him to work harder to cover the war in Gaza, according to his colleague.
As news of Hamza’s murder spread, his wife of a year rushed to the cemetery, as did his surviving siblings, for one last look before his burial.
Wael stood by his son’s head, consoling the rest of his family as they tried to understand this sudden loss.
His composure and strength made Wael Dahdoud much more than the head of Tel Aviv Tribune’s Arab bureau in Gaza. He is the face of coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and a symbol of the resilience of the people of Gaza.
When he lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in the Israeli airstrike in late October, the world watched in dismay as he rushed to the hospital where the bodies of his four relatives had been been transported.
After bidding an emotional farewell to his children, grandchildren and life partner, he also seemed more determined than ever to get the job done.
Then, in mid-December, he was seriously injured in an attack that killed his colleague Samer Abudaqa, but he was traveling again to cover the news soon after.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Union has documented the killing of 102 journalists and the wounding of 71 others by Israeli forces since hostilities began in October.
The list of Tel Aviv Tribune journalists and contributors who have lost family members or died themselves is also growing.
In December, Anas al-Sharif lost his father in an Israeli airstrike that hit his family’s home in Jabalia.
A few days earlier, on December 6, Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic correspondent Moamen Al Sharafi killed 22 members of his family when an Israeli attack hit the house where they were sheltering in the Jabalia refugee camp.
In late October, broadcast engineer Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan lost 19 members of his family, including his father and two sisters, in Israeli air raids on the same refugee camp.